Gender Issues In Much Ado About Nothing By William Shakespeare

The treatment of gender issues between both men and women portrayed in Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare has impacted both the audience of the Elizabethan era and modern day society. Independent, boisterous, and impulsive women were often looked down on, for they did not obey the male figures in their lives. The patriarchal society and the imbalance of power between both genders in Much Ado About Nothing is shown through the characterization in Beatrice’s courage, Hero’s dependency, and the men in the play who believed that they were superior. This was because women were supposed to be silent and gentle and submissive to their husband and listen to everyone. Hero perfectly described the “ideal woman”- a woman who rarely stood up for herself …show more content…
For some, this belief changed over time, however, for others, it did not. For men at that time, a woman was either a virgin, a wife, a mother or a whore. There was simply no in between. But more importantly, a man’s status was far higher or superior compared to a woman’s status. For many, such as Claudio, they believed that they were superior even throughout the whole play. After the incident, Claudio apologized to Leonato saying that “Poor Claudio” (V.1.280) will be disposed of. Not once did he apologize to Hero about the horrible slander, instead, he apologized to her father. To Hero, he simply exclaimed, “Another Hero!” (5.4.62). The patriarchy was so prevalent and strong that instead of saying sorry to the person Claudio publicly attacked, he simply said sorry to the father and cheered that a new “Hero” has appeared. By doing so, Shakespeare was able to show the true patriarchy hidden in society for Claudio thought it was more important to apologize to the father of the victim that the victim herself. Because of that, the belief of being superior and that Hero was merely a “jewel” (I.1.154) was so ingrained in him, so much so that he only idolized her as an object. This shows how Claudio (not Hero) was a “rotten orange” (4.1.29), for he may look handsome on the outside, but on the inside, for he has a rotten personality. Benedick on the other hand, as cliche as it may sound, was converted through love from a man who wanted to be a bachelor into a man that like Beatrice, protected others in times of need. At first, Benedick voices an ideal patriarchal man who complains that Beatrice “speaks poniards, and every word stabs.” (2.1.218). But, he later accepted Beatrice for who she was and agreed to Beatrice’s demand to “Kill Claudio” (4.1.282). The change done by Shakespeare was quite immense because he changed from a man who thought lowly of a woman who spoke of her mind, into a man